GOP lawmaker suggests duel with female senators

Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) suggested in a recent interview that he’d like to duel with female senators he blames for the Senate’s failure to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Farenthold told a radio station in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Friday that “some female senators from the Northeast” are responsible for the Senate’s failure to pass a bill, The Associated Press reported Monday.

“If it was a guy from south Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style,” Farenthold added.

Vice President Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, the United States’ first Treasury secretary and a signatory of the Constitution, in a duel in 1804.

{mosads}It’s not clear who Farenthold was referring to. He said it was “absolutely repugnant” that the Senate hasn’t passed a bill to repeal ObamaCare. The House passed its version of a healthcare reform bill in May.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has been a major opponent of her party’s drafts of legislation dismantling ObamaCare. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have also opposed the measure.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on a motion to proceed on a version of a bill to repeal ObamaCare this week, but it’s unclear what piece of legislation senators will actually move to. They could begin considering a straight repeal of ObamaCare or repeal-and-replace legislation.

It’s also possible their effort will die with the initial procedural motion, which may not have the 50 votes necessary to advance.